Of Brothers and Blood
by Cautious Chaos
Summary: Oneshot. No one was immortal, especially in this Dark War. Jace could die, Clary could die. And yet, there were worst things than death. And Alec knew he would do anything to keep his parabatai from falling apart. Character Death, sad, and dark, CoHF arc. Please R&R.


**Story Summary: **No one was immortal. One day, Clary and Jace would die anyway. But that didn't mean Alec would stand by and watch that happen.

**A/N :Dark. Sad. Major character death. **

The moonlight had shone through shafts in the trees of Brocelind Forest, the shadows on Jace's cheeks hollow and sharp under the harsh glare of the witchlight in his hand. The faint red of the demon towers pulsed like a bleeding wound in the softness of the night, far away in the rush of darkness. The air felt thin to the heaviness in Alec's body. Izzy... would Izzy and Simon be alright? Hadn't they already made it back to the Gard to warn the Clave? Magnus would make sure they were okay. Unless Alec was wrong about him. But Alec couldn't be wrong. Not now.

Clary was very pale, shivering in the chilling air, instinctively close to Jace as they walked along the frigid path. A cut was slashed across her cheek, dried and crusted, bright against the starkness of her skin and black shadowhunter gear as she tried to keep up with Alec and Jace with those short legs of hers. It still stung a little bit, to see how Jace kept his eyes on Clary, his first thoughts, instead of his _parabatai._ Alec knew Jace would do anything for Clary, things he would never do for Alec, his best friend, his brother. But for Alec, he would give everything for Jace. For Alec, life had only ever been around four people. Four people he would only ever truly love, cry for, protect with his everything. Just four. Izzy, Jace, Magnus, Max.

But no.

_He couldnt protect Max anymore. Max, his little Max, his baby brother. Max, who couldn't ever grin up at him again. _

_Because of Sebastian. _

Sebastian. Alec was never one to crave blood, to have a hunger to kill or hurt. But now, he did. He _wanted _to make that _bastard _bleed, he _wanted _that _monster's _blood to run freely through his fingers, staining the world in that awful, gorgeous crimson. He _wanted _to see the light leave Sebastian eyes, see them turn cold and hard like stone and di_e_.

If not for Max, then for Izzy and Jace and all the pain he caused them.

_I will kill him. I will make him bleed. _

"I'm scared." whispered Clary, in the quiet, brooding silence. Jace clenched his jaw. "Don't be. " he said. "I'll protect you." He turned his golden eyes towards her, full of fire more deadly than a strike of his sword.

Alec, feeling quite awkward, kept a pace ahead. He kept on seeing Magnus's green cat eyes following him wherever he went, glowing through the trees, full of intesity. Magnus...

There was a horrible screech, quite inhuman but not an animal either. Not even a demon. Something else, something ...

"_Clary!? "_

That was Simon, Alec thought, calling out to Clary. What was Simon doing here? Hadn't he and Iz gone to the Gard to warn the Clave? Or was it already burned down by Sebastian, only corpses left? _Magnus..._

But that didn't make _sense._ It must be a trap.

"Simon? " Clary mumbled as she whirled around, green eyes wide, face pale as they heard Simon cry out. "Simon!" Alec follwed her gaze his own blue eyes whizzing around the trees for a sillouete or something, but it was not there. Now that he thought about it, there wasn't even the crunching of leaves..

"Wait! " Alec protested as Clary began to run towards the sound of Simon's voice. _Stupid._ his mind said peevishly. _Stupid, stupid, stupid Clary, running off like that. _Sure enough, Jace, blade in hand, took off after her without a second glance at Alec, who felt his shoulders tighten considerably as the words he had once thought came looping back into the front of his brain. _She's going to get us all killed. She's going to get Jace killed. _

But he would die before that would ever happen.

Well..

Alec had always prided himself on being the sensible one out of them, the eldest, the one that actually thought things through. So when a dark mass of shadow leapt out and collided with Clary, it only took Jace's cry of despair. He wasn't thinking: he ran.

He liked Clary now, he supposed, liked her far more than he had when he first met her, so that was an improvement. But what really made him throw himself into battle with Jace striking at his side was that Alec knew if something happened to Clary, Jace would break. And Alec, he was Jace's parabatai, so he would do anything to hold Jace together.

He saw, out of years of teamwork, how Jace was going to jump infront of Clary as the demon raised it's fist and swung it towards her. He saw the determination in Jace's face. He saw how nothing, _nothing _was going to hold Jace back, like nothing ever did, because he was _Jace. _And for once he wasn't thinking about Izzy or Magnus or anything else but _Jace_ and how his brother was going to be blasted to bits if he kept going.

Jace was faster than Alec, had always been, despite the height difference between them, so when Alec ran, Jace was ahead of him. He collided with Jace, knocking him to the floor as the demon's tail came whipping up behind them and brushed the top of their backs as they tumbled to the floor and Jace gave a strangled yell. They tumbled and pushed themsleves up as Clary screamed and tossed to the side to dodge another fist. Rocks and gravel exploded around them, dust clouding up and choking the both of them. Jace dived in and grabbed Clary as Alec nocked an arrow and released it into the demon's hide. The demon screamed, and reared back and Jace and Clary got back up. Clary had blood streaking her shoulder.

Suddenly the demon changed direction, flinging out to Jace and knocking him back into the trees with a large crack. Clary screamed once more - Angel, was she ever going to do anything _useful_?- and the demon advanced on her again. Alec felt adrenaline take control of his conciousness. Jace was dragging himself towards Clary and all Alec registered was a buzzing sound.

He really wasn't _thinking_.

Cold, burning pain erupted in Alec's chest beneath the blood that burst onto his gear and he vaguely heard Clary shriek his name. Funny, he couldn't think of how he had gotten here; here with a demon's dark and blood spattered claw in his chest. What had happened? Clary had been screaming, and then Jace was about to sacrifice himself... and with a burst of agony, he suddenly remembered how he had shoved Clary aside just as the demon thrust its claws forward and how it impaled it's evil into the carnage of his chest with an awful thumping sound. How the tip of the claw had stuck through his back. HIs mind was going all strange and he only remembered bits and fragments, so when the demon swung his hand out and his body flung out into the trees, Alec could barely register the shapes and shouts of warriors and seraph blades crashing throught the woods and falling on the demon._ The Clave..._

He saw faces swimming in front of him as he tried to push himself up, and fell again and again, his entire body slick with blood. His breath sounded ragged even to his own ears, barely taking in the sound of his name. Then someone was gathering him up into their arms, and then he realized it was Jace, whose face was pale, his eyes wide and pained. He was saying something... _"Alec, Alec, hold on, just hold on, you'll be alright..." _and then the look on his face as Jace turned to stare at the gaping wound in Alec's chest that made him realize that for all his suave and humor, Jace was a horrible, horrible liar. As Alec began to shut his eyes he heard Jace _freak _and felt himself being shaken desperately, something like wet tears spattering his face but that didn't make sense to him because he thought Jace never _cried_, until Alec heard his brother's strangled pleas. _"Open your eyes, damnit! Just hold on, you'll be alright! Alec! ALEC! Wake up! You have to WAKE UP!" _Everything was glossed over, so Alec wasn't really sure if he was hearing right, but he heard Jace beg him to stay awake. His brother, begging, pleading for Alec to open his eyes. _"Alec, please, Angel, please just stay with me here...! Alec! Oh angel-"_ Amused, Alec wanted to smile, thinking that he had finally gotten his parabatai to say "_please". _But then the sound of Clary's voice was breaking into his thoughts ...Clary, Clary...

The last thing he could think of was some feeling of pride, for protecting Clary, for holding together what was dear to his brother, his parabatai. And although the blood that spilled on the ground was not also the blood that ran in Jace's veins, Alec could only think that he was glad to die in the arms of his brother. In the arms of brother and blood.

Izzy hadn't ever heard Jace _scream_ before.

So when she ran through the forest where the Clave had gone and found the both of her brothers curled up on a bloody floor with Clary shaking Jace's shoulder and saying something she couldn't make out, and she heard Jace's awful scream as his bloody hand dropped to where his parabatai rune was, Izzy staggered back and cried out. Then she felt Simon at her side as Clary looked up and them, green eyes glistening with tears and calling Izzy's name. But Izzy didn't want to hear it as she dropped to the floor and screamed, too, an awful lament of fear turning into sorrow. Simon was whispering to her, hugging her and saying _"Izzy, I'm sorry. Iz. Shh, shh, don't cry."_ as she screamed, but she didn't cry, because she was passed crying. Dead things do not cry. They are just dead.

Then someone came into their line of vision, shouting something as blue sparks exploded wildly around them, fear and despair written over their body language. _Magnus. Oh Angel, Magnus..._

_"What's happened?" _Magnus was saying, words pained and rushed and too fast for the warlock's usual tone. _"Oh God, Alec. What's happened?!" _Clary was saying something, and this time Isabelle could hear as she said something like "Magnus. Magnus, I' m sorry." And all _Magnus _was saying was "_Oh god. oh my God. He's d-dead, isn't he? Oh God, he is. No, no. No. Alexander- " _

And it was strange, and awfully satisfying to see Magnus Bane, the great high warlock of Brooklyn lose his calm, his dry wit, his nonchalance. The warlock was on his knees, head in hands, not crying but just frozen like he wasn't even alive anymore. And this was the only comfort Izzy had- knowing that her brother was loved, loved by the man he loved back before he died. Magnus did love Alec. Her brother was _loved_. He had died _loved._

That was all he ever wanted.

She remembers now, how Alec had caressed her face and ruffled her hair before she and Simon had gone back to the Gard, before he and Jace and Clary went off to find the demons. _"Stay safe, Izzy." _He had smiled then, sad, like he already knew what was going to happen, like he was giving her his last loves. _"I love you. Tell Magnus- " _A choked laugh, pride and love clear in his blue eyes. _"Tell him I love him, too." _And Iz had clung to him, hating feeling desperate, hating feeling scared because she was a goddamn _Shadowhunter, _and she shouldn't be frightened. But it was _Alec, _her big brother who had seen all the worst and best of her, who covered her with a blanket when she was cold, who held her hand when she had been scared as a little girl, who sat and held her as she cried over Max. And she didn't mind showing that he and Jace and Simon were the only people she had ever _needed, _and that he couldn't go now when she needed him to tell her it was going to be okay.

"_You'll be okay." _

No, no, no, no _no._

She wasn't _okay, _she wasn't _safe, _not without _both _of her brothers next to her. She wasn't okay, with Simon's pale arms wrapped around her, staring hopelessly at her brother, at her brother and the blood that stained the floor.


End file.
